Posts Tagged ‘杉井酒造’

September is always a busy month for Sugii Brewery in Fujieda City when they put on sale special brews matured over the year.
This particular sake has just been awarded a Trophy for “Best Ginjo” by the Tasting Panel at the International Sake Challenge 2008 held in Tokyo on July, 8th, 2008!

Overall: As usual, another pleasant surprise! Definitely for dry sake lovers!
Mr. Sugii seems to come up with another creation every time I taste his sake!
Drinks so well with or without food.
Should please both genders. tends to disappear quickly!

Sugii Brewery in Fuieda City is one of the very few breweries which still experiment with old-style sake such as Yamahai and brews concocted with kimoto.
This time, Mr. Sugii devised a Yamahai exclusively made with Homare Fuji, a rice strain grown in Shizuoka Prefecture!

Sugii Brewery is noted for producing some the most traditional sake in Shizuoka Prefecture. Their “kimoto” and “yamahai” have received national acclaim in many specialized magazines such as the March edition of “DANCYU”.
My good friends at Nagashima Saketen always call me as they have arrived!

The title “Tenbo 13 nen” means the 13th year of Tenbo Era (1843) shortly before the advent of Meiji Era, the year of the Brewery foundation in Fujieda City. A return to its roots and orignal brewing!

Overall: A sake for food, especially fried and strong taste food.
2 or 3 days ater opening the bottle the sake will actually turn gentler and sweeter, and “performing” with food.
Unusual and intriguing.

The Tokyo Sake Meetup Group, the new name for the former Tokyo Geeks met to taste loads of sake at Ichobee, Tokyo on March 1st.
See pictures of the event and read their report and activiies!
Among them were three offerings from Shizuoka Prefecture. They reached Tokyo with no labels to indicate what they were.
Here are the results from that Tasting Meet:

#1, #2, #3 (see introductions below comments):
Comments by Etsuko Nakamura
Mystery Sake from ShizuokaMelinda brought these sake from Robert-Gilles. Robert-Gilles lives in Shizuoka and loves the area so much and his blog sites are all about Shizuoka including sake. I don’t know anyone who’s more dedicated to their hometown than him! To find out what the three bottles were, please visit Robert Gill’s blog at shizuokasake.wordpress.com.
Votes: When the group was asked to pick their favorite out of three, this is the result.
5 votes for #1
3 votes for #2
5 votes for #3

Here is one sake I may never taste, hence the expression, “Maborおshi Sake”!

In 2000 Kinnosuke Sugii, the owner and Master brewer at Sugii Brewery (Suginishiki) in Fujieda City, came up with one of his annual creations: Kodaimai Kurozake (Ancient Rice, Black sake) Honjozo.
At this time my good friend Takahiro Nagashima of Nagashima Saketen in Shizuoka City acquired two bottles of this very limited one-time only brew and decided to let them mature for a s long as possible. He drunk the first bottle last year and found supremely good.
Yesterday, December 6th, he showed me the second bottle he hoped to let mature some more time and allowed me to take a picture for posterity.
He promised me he would invite me when he decides to finally open it!
A sort article for a long wait….
I might as well as grab Mr. Sugii’s next creation for my own cellar!

It’s “shinshu” (New Sake, not Sake Nouveau-spare me!) season at long last!
And the first I tasted was a brew by Sugii Brewery in Fujieda City. And what’s more, it is a Yamahai! Yamahai sake, as far as taste is concerned, can wildly vary from brewery to brewery. Shizuoka is no exception.

Suginishiki Honjozo Shizuku Yamahai Shikomi “Kinnosuke”
“Kinnosuke” is actually the first name of the Owner/Master Brewer, Mr. Sugii.
“Shizuku” means that the sake was not pressed but collected as it naturally flowed out.
Rice: Shizuoka Hitomebure and Shizuoka Aichi no Kaori
Rice milled down to 70%
Dryness: +7
Acidity: 2.1 (High)
Alcohol: 19~20 degrees (genshu)
Yeast: No7
Bottled in November 2007

Overall: due to the high alcohol content, it could almost be drunk as a shochu, although the comparitively soft impression on the palate makes a big difference.
A “macho” sake for people who enjoy their sake with a strong note.